Speed limits for vans in the UK

If you’ve passed your driving test, or at least your driving theory, chances are you should have a pretty good grasp on the speed limits on the different types of roads in the UK. Having knowledge of these limits, whether you’re on a motorway, a dual carriageway, a single carriageway or in a built-up area, allows you to drive safely and avoid getting a speeding ticket! However, the speed limits for vans, with or without roof racks Leeds or roof bars Newcastle, are different to those for cars, and must be adhered to.

Newer van drivers may not realise there is a difference, and that can leave them vulnerable to breaking the speed limit. This is somewhat common with drivers who hire a van with roof racks Newcastle or roof bars Newcastle to move things for a weekend or so, as they presume they are just like cars when it comes to speed limits. Here is a list of speed limits that most vans that weigh up to 3.5 tonnes must adhere to:

Motorways: 70 mph

Dual carriageways: 60 mph

Single carriageways: 50 mph

Built-up areas: 30 mph

This means that the speed limit for vans with roof racks Leeds or roof bars Newcastle travelling on single and dual carriageways drops by 10 mph, but the others remain unchanged. If the van and roof racks Newcastle aren’t enough space for you to transport what you need to move, you can also tow a trailer behind the van, but doing so will lower the speed limit on motorways by 10 mph to 60 mph.

These are the national speed limits, but it is still important to remember that local authorities have the right to post different limits on different roads. You must also obviously adhere to any temporary speed limits, just like you would if you were driving a car.

There are some exceptions to the lowered speed limits listed below though. If you are driving a small van that is clearly a car that has had its window glass removed and replaced with blank panels, then the standard national speed limits apply. These vehicles, for example the Dacia Duster Commercial or Vauxhall Corsavan, are classed as car-derived vans.

A grey area for classification is with vehicles that are sold as MPVs. If they are not crew van variants of the MPV then they can stick to the posted limits rather than the van limits, but if they are crew van variants, they must adhere to those limits. This is a grey area because technically MPVs are van-derived cars too, but they pay road tax based on the structure that applies to cars, they should be governed by standard car limits too.

Some larger vans with roof racks Leeds are designed to have a gross vehicle weight over 3.5 tonnes. If they do, then a speed limiter must be fitted by law for the van to be road-legal. This limiter easily allows drivers of vans with roof racks Newcastle to stay within the speed limit on higher speed roads, as the limits are unattainable, however they still must ensure that they watch their speeds in lower-speed, built up areas.